This film begins in 1780 with a person known simply as the "Mulatto" (Meinhart Maur) being dragged off of a boat on and tied to a tree on a deserted tropical island where he is abandoned without any food or water as a penalty for betraying a pirate captain. The scene then shifts to a small town on the English coast some 20 years later at a church service where the local parson "Dr. Syn" (George Arliss) has just dismissed everybody early upon hearing that a British patrol has arrived with the intent on searching all of the buildings. As it so happens, this entire area has gained a reputation for being the main port of entry for smugglers and the leader of the patrol named "Captain Collyer" (Roy Emerton) has been sent to put a stop to it. Unfortunately, what he doesn't know is that the identities of the smugglers is only known a few villagers and they are very well-connected. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although this story certainly seemed interesting at first, the manner in which it was delivered could have used significant improvement. For example, many of the scenes were shot at night and in the foggy surroundings of a nearby marsh. Because of this there were times when it became difficult to actually ascertain what was happening. Of course, this film was produced in the 30's when the technology wasn't nearly as good as the present so I suppose some allowances should be made. But even so there were some scenes which were still a bit too dull and dreary and they affected the overall picture. Be that as it may, while this certainly wasn't a bad film by any means, it could have been better and I have rated it accordingly.
Review of Doctor Syn
